People have been asking us: What’s that big film crew doing downtown today? Why must my commute be ruined by greedy Hollywood movie producers? The answer: Why it’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets, the sequel to the polarizing Nicholas Cage swashbuckler, of course. Here’s the details on the filming for today, though circuses of production vehicles will likely be popping up elsewhere around the city for a while longer. The D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT),…

The Capital Fringe Festival gets started in earnest today, with offerings all over town. Highlights include sci-fi dating, middle school antics, Canadian exports, songs for the deaf, a day-long performance piece, and spoonbending. It could be a little overwhelming if DCist weren’t here to guide you through it, no? So before we get into it, let us first introduce OUR AWESOME FRINGE FESTIVAL MAP, which details the locations of all Fringe venues, by date. Special…

Seattlest saw a house party get senselessly attacked with a shotgun and end with seven dead. A local senator is debated and their version of the big dig is investigated. To truly get to the bottom of it they interview the writer Jonathan Raban. Bostonist has its first birthday party and investigates how to attach more gambling dollars to the Red Sox. Benjamin Franklin is celebrated and Johnny Damon is not. DCist reports that the…

WEDNESDAY Fast Company’s Charles Fishman has a dirty little secret: he loves him some savings at Wal-Mart. It makes him all hot and bothered. But he feels really guilty about it, because, apparently, the retail behemoth may have certain deleterious effects on the marketplace. Who knew? Join Fishman as he discusses The Wal-Mart Effect at Politics and Prose. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 7 p.m. THURSDAY Pint-sized author and newly minted voiceover star Sarah Vowell will…

DCist is happy to share news this week of area events and exhibits by our fellow bloggers. First off, Lenny Campello of DC Art News, opens a show of his recent drawings on Friday at the Georgetown Fraser Gallery. There’s a reception for the show that night from 6-9 p.m. A drawing from the exhibit is shown at right. >> Frank Warren is still sharing secrets people send him in the mail on his…

What happens when you put together five friends, four pumpkins, and 30 beers? We don’t know because we can’t remember; there were thirty beers. All we know is that we got ham-daddy. Fortunately, we had paper and pen on hand and can recount to you what happened. Well look at that! We were smart enough to leave the carving to more sober times, but it turns out we did manage a testing of our…